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I still "need" to read these:
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
53. The Stand, Stephen King
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
Is there something on this list I should definitely read?
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Ah there's no end to the making of lists. Richard and Judy? Who? Perhaps teachers got complete classes to submit their choices to this list. If you've only read a handful of the common books then your choices are going to come from that list. Book sales would tell you just as much (More) about what is enjoyed by readers in Englandshire. Are there any poor writers or bad books in that list. Perhaps. But there are a large number of quality books. Lets look quickly at To Kill a Mockingbird. Children as central characters but an adult book. Frequently chosen as a class text by virtue-signalling teachers, it frequently makes a big impression on adolescents who have read little previously but who remember the book forever. When these people are asked for their favourite book later it springs into their minds. What does that tell us? Does it mean it is a great novel? Does it mean the teacher made a good choice? Does it show how impressionable and susceptible is the adolescent mind? Does it show that it is the one book these respondents have read? It is not difficult to show that TKAM is a quality piece of writing. I guess that in common with most of the other texts here the idea of books like these giving pleasure and entertainment is a quality sometimes undervalued by "serious" readers. I doubt if the list would be the same today. It's interesting as a snapshot of what these respondents like. Why would Treasure Island still be there after a century. It must have something going for it.
